Chinese-Dutch fashion designer Hu Sheguang has hit all kinds of headlines with a fantastically macabre and fetishistic catwalk show in Beijing this week, complete with fake blood. Fashionistas were treated to long flowing red outfits replete with multiple heads, babies and devil imagery made from PVC, latex, lace and velvet. See the full report here and watch the show here below. We're not joking when we say it's as provocational as anything we've seen on the catwalk at TG.

Spring has Sprung by a Mile

So when I tell vanillas I've only just met that I'm involved in kink education their response is usually to do that leery eyebrow raising thing, especially the blokodious guys. Five minutes later they're asking me if I go to orgies. Five minutes after that it's usually a question about how to go to them. I then point out it that these events are usually about straight sex, partner swapping and likely to include a bisexual element... then possibly some kink stuff. I then realise they were never really interested in me talking about the kink side...

This was a particularly interesting post detailing current new sex trends including: marinating, the aquagasm, 3D printed, high-end or gender-neutral sex toys... while more realistically including virtual reality, pegging, the 77 position and butt play as less about being new ideas and more about what has risen from the circles of Hades over the past twenty years to be in vogue now in the 2010s. Yes, yes, yes, I guess I could have written that more clearly but I was too busy having an aquagasm.

Rubber's Finest's internet television channel, RFTV, has released an interview with Peter W Czernich by Poupette (fetish model). The 40 minute programme, in German but overdubbed in English, shows the international fetish publisher discussing his fetishes, career and projects past and present from his first latex events back in 1989 to exciting new plans for the Marquis magazine brand; plus his interest in Japanese Manga fetish characterisation.

Trans Britain Expression

And if you haven't seen it yet you may want to catch the hilarious and revealing Miss Transgender: Britain's New Beauty Queens still available on iPlayer and available for two months (UK only). Is being trans a choice, an option, a kink, a deception? Does not having the chop qualify you to be proper trans? Are the fact that almost none of them are really convincing as women... the point?

The heroine of the show has to be Courtney, author of such classic bitchiness as: "This isn't crufts!" when admonishing a fellow contestant who she'd described (rather accurately) as Phil Mitchell in a wig. The most womanly of all the contest entrants Courtney tries to use the competition to speak out about how young trans women can get trapped in the sex industry. Her nervous ambition to one day be married is touchingly real, and convincing, whereas the all-smiling Jai seems to fall foul of turning up as a cliché of a 'gay boy' playing at being a woman.

Brighton Pervery

Two things of note going on locally in Brighton. First off is a hooded heads up for the Brighton Fetish Weekend for the weekend of 24 June this summer. Expect a mix of events hosted and attended by friendly, easy-going and sometime hedonist local perves with kinky cocktails, Flashmob fetish photography, a 'Sensual Overload' Expo, the Emergency 999 Spank Ball, Twisted Market and dungeon afterparty. Sign up updates on their Facebook page here. ​

​Meanwhile the Brighton Erotic Boudoir has flung open it's doors for business promising: "a kinky play space complete with deluxe boudoir, medical room, wet room, fully equipped dungeon and more". They also boast use of an exceptional range of modern and vintage toys. Their site is here.

UNLEASHED Amsterdam celebrates its 5 years anniversary on Saturday, May 21st 2016 with a 2000+ guest capacity fetish dance event at The BOX, one of Amsterdam's largest venues. More details and hype on Facebook here.

Screen Too

The growth of KFSTV.net remains unabated with a free three month subscription offer. The new kink TV channel from the publisher of the much-missed Skin Two magazine is available online, 24/7 on your TV set, iPad, laptop, Mac, PC, tablet or smartphone. CEO Tim Woodward says there won't be any porn but to expect 'intelligent, stylish, informative, fun and non-sexist content.' More here.

A Story from a Very Kinky Girl

The first book from Mistress Elena Hexthorn is a real life Mistress who has been running chambers and fetish clubs in London since the early 1990’s has been published on Kindle. Entitled Very Kinky Girls: Sexy Stories about Seductive Sirens many of the evocative stories in the book are drawn from vivid life experiences. And those in the know will recognise her as... the lady who cracks the whip behind the London Fetish Fair: so expect to get into the proper wicked mindset of fetish women, for real.

FetWatch

It seems now there's no need to be on 'FetWatch' with the mainstream media doing it for us. See Vanessa White formerly of The Saturdays spat with Jessie J about wearing a lace-up latex number. I reckon there should be a 'latax' for those stage-schoolers abusing the power of the fetish. Check out Nadia Ali's faintly annoying Rapture to see if she's abusing our consent or a proper fetisexual: You have to ask yourself is she a pop-tart wannabe or does she have the genuine fet-factor of say, Nicole Scherzinger?

With such inflammatory atmospheres and diverse religious and caste attitudes, it's obviously a minefield being kinky in a complex culture like India's. Spoke to someone there recently about being Indian and into fetish and BDSM in the wake of recent international focus on mistreatment of women, controversial rape cases and the legal upholding of the criminalising of gay sex (now thankfully being fought against back in the courts).

My source told me: "Being kinky in India isn't simple. Between people's conservative (and often antiquated) mindsets and the law that criminalises any kind of sex 'against the order of nature', whatever that means, or shows little respect for presumption of innocence you need to be motivated to be kinky."

But there is help in the shape of The Kinky Collective. Here's an article written by one of the group, a personal foray into Playing With Love, re: BDSM, which rang some bells of truth for me. The group can also be found on Fetlife, using the search facility.

Combatulations are in order

My friend Max(ine) recently met a girl who told her she had a combat fetish. She asked the lady in question we took to calling 'Private Benjamin' to define that and in essence what was yearned for was a kind of fighting foreplay, 'like lions'. I then wondered where that would lead and asked Max what Private B reckoned the cut-off point was. Apparently the reply came that there wasn't one, replete with a shrug and a mischievous smile.

Max told me that initially she was intrigued to try, expressing a curiosity; but ultimately didn't chase Private B as she thought better of bringing out her strength in uncontrolled violence or anger, especially with a same-sex lover. Max is tall, 6ft (think Gwendoline Christie from Game of Thrones) and tends to takes things personally. Also, Private B enjoyed sleeping around and was not really in the bracket for a relationship. Max added in a text: 'If I go there with all this emotion and effort then don't connect, WTF?"

She also realised, perhaps her prospective pugilist was just trying to replicate the girl she started the fetish with. And according to Private B that didn't end well.

I'm proud of Max, a good swerve. I share the same natural intolerance for people who seem to have an open-end jazz attitude to any edge play kink practice when the ideas aren't really formed in their own mind or harking after something lost: Especially when it appears presented in that 'Hey I do S/M and I'm cool' kind of way. There's controlled and consensually arranged danger – which is bloody great fun –and then there's gloves off recklessness. Max is still friends with Private B and has helped hook her up with some fetish and LGBT connections. But yeah, she wasn't knocked out.

As the year draws to a close (21st December round here with the Burning of the Clocks!) our contributor & latex fashionista fetishist extraordinaire picks her hot highlight of 2015. Get ready for wild reportage from SpikeyO

Munich, GermanyLess cucumber sandwiches sans crusts and lashings of tea served in Royal Daulton bone china cups, SubRosaDictum's secret fetish garden party is much more firmly based on style and seduction, hedonism and happiness, gratification and gusto; plus carnality and comfort.

I first made the acquaintance of the SubRosaDictum's Der Geheime Garten (Secret Garden Party) in August last year (2014)and was captivated and intoxicated by what I found. Some uncharitable types might say it was the overindulgence of "special Munich cocktails" which contributed to my intoxication. Not so this year with the organisers congratulating me on walking out on my own two feet – 6" heels cast aside. Heck, this time round I was even spotted with a bottle of water in my rubbered hand. However, fear not dear friends – a plethora and profusion of Prosecco refills were forever on standby.

For any self-respecting female fetishist (or male for that matter) attending a public event on the scale and quality of Der Geheime Garten, hobbling around in 6" heels (or higher) is the industry norm. However, given the fact that a large proportion of the event occurs outdoors in the opulent grounds of a very special, undisclosed location (as a condition of purchasing the ticket, the guests are forbidden to reveal the name of venue on pain of punishment and torture) negotiating grass, gravel and uneven paving stones can be tricky for the uninitiated.

Some clever fellow latex lovers might have the foresight to come prepared with their rubber Converse or Hunters so they can intrepidly explore the labyrinthine proportions of the efflorescent setting of Der Geheime Garten. I, on the other hand, peel off my stupidly gargantuan heels and set off with my partner Rubberdude to probe the inner sanctum of the party, my bare tootsies relishing the soft, cool lawn underfoot.

As I meandered around the rest of Der Geheime Garten the maze-like proportions of the luminous surroundings soon become apparent to me. To set the scene for the otherworldly surroundings we discovered that the al fresco foyer area was furnished with Grecian sculpture ornamentation illuminated with supernatural lighting.

We sat on extraordinary sofas upholstered with lush green pasture (yes real grass folks). Further exploration led to an internal boulevard shimmering with a thousand flickering candle lit Moroccan lanterns. This was the central play area where translucent voile curtains served to create numerous individual private spaces for those intent on diabolism or just hardcore sex… oh go on then, you've talked me into it.

The scopophiliacs* in our midst may have been thwarted by the wafting portieres shielding their stares so they consoled themselves with the abundant comfy couches in the main space to lounge and consider their next lustful move. Off to the sides were alleyways of abandonment and inlets of iniquity where lewdness, licentiousness, sinfulness and wickedness were all the order of the day. After an unspecified duration of fun and fornication (whilst trying not to crush the laminated spikes of my Dayne Henderson custom made catsuit) we strolled back to the main party.

A brief detour led us to yet another clandestine area where fetishists frolicked in front of a fire pit furnace shaped like a giant red mouth, reminiscent of the scene from Videodrome where Debbie Harry's lips fill the screen as she murmurs "Come to me…"

Most parties, even the very best ones, usually revolve around a venue procured exclusively for club nights. The beauty of SubRosaDictum is that each party is built from scratch around a locale which does not normally host club nights let alone those charged with such dynamic debauchery.

In fact, in most cases (the exception being the Kesselhaus Munich) the owners of the selected venue prefer to disassociate themselves from any affiliation with fetish or BDSM. This gives SubRosaDictum exclusivity to run parties in locations which usually refuse to entertain fetish events. All this intrigue serves to ensure the pervilicious patrons and punters feel like they belong to an elite coterie ready to be enraptured and enthralled when they cross the threshold of this enigmatic haunt.

Answering a request from a fan of my writing for some actual erotica I have decided to experiment with a KINKY THOUGHTS feature combining a story with some fetish & BDSM reflection. This first one skirts the themes of pet play, D/S, confinement, latex, humiliation and multiple partners and is called:

Vet Vaccination

Finally I make the roundabout that tells me the A-road is over. Sort of there now. A death black wintery night has set in. And it's only six.I point my car toward home and to Helena. Or tonight: 'Dr Fister' as she put in the text.

A break in traffic sees me check it for the tenth time.

'TONIGHT WE PLAY: VET VACCINATION. You: Tom. Me: Dr Fister. Dinner in town after.'I'll take the food, but the game? This assumption I'll be in the mood?

Ok. I admit. When she's 'decided', then our sexploration is really fun. Fastidious, Munich-born Helena does do her homework. Plus I know she has a thing for me as this 'Tom' cat she concocted.

Yes, I have a rubber fetish. The black sheen, the sappy odour, the flutters and creaks as the material stretches snugly to the physique. Must concentrate on the road. Five minutes away.But no, this 'Tom'. Helena has developed all manner of things she sticks to my latex hood. She actually giggles fastening the belt-tail. This is all karma for my obsessive requests to Catwoman her up I surmise. Oh I so love this woman. The dream woman as my constant sex dream too. A man has to stay sharp not to screw a good thing like this up.

So, this text, the very You: Tom has to be a no-brainer.But vaccination? How will that happen?

So far she hasn't followed through on this Dr Fister monicker. Yet. It could even happen this very evening. I shift on the car-seat leather and feel that I'm damp with agitation.Then I'm at the front door. Where did I park? Wow. That moment when you're work-tired and play spaced and remember nothing from five minutes ago.

Well, in we go. Where is she? I call up for her but there is a dead echo, my words landing me self-conscious and alone. She's gone out? Now? What? My heart falls and churns, a dancing butterfly. TONIGHT WE PLAY.

I flick a light on and there it is: our newly-acquired wicker laundry basket. I laughed at her when she got it: much too big. Now I see it opening an untold abyss of mischief. Helena had made a window and fixed bamboo bars.

Inside sits an envelope marked 'No.1' on a pile of gun-metal grey latex. I pull it all out and it flops elastically, hitting my olfactory senses with its perverting sweetness. It's a real 'cat'suit. All in one, with a white tux, paws, and a hood with a...I chuckle...with a hood-mask not unlike Tom from the cartoons, and, with fitted pinnae, plastic whiskers and insane grin. Inside I would have to grip a gag with my teeth keeping my mouth open. Thankfully it seems airy so I don't feel daunted. But how demeaning. This must have made Helena laugh and wet all at once.There's another envelope marked 'No. 2' in the basket I notice. I open No.1.

GET IN, it says on the card.

There is lube and so I undress and begin the gliding-in process. Halfway in the suit it occurs to me to check the house. I try and fly up the stairs but it's a tentative creep with my five toes in the three holes for paws. I hold the suit up as I ascend, feeling ridiculous. The things we do for kink. I open doors and check rooms. Nope. I take a quick piss and wash my hands. I stare at in the bathroom mirror and tell myself to calm down. But returning downstairs I nearly go flying as I slide on some lube in my heel. I imagine Helena having to explain a half-dressed and dead latex catman to the police.

The lubing continues and I'm in the suit proper now, my paws negotiating the backzip leash well and I pull into the cocoon of second skin. In the hall mirror the attached Tom head awaits my transformation. But I decide to try and open the second envelope.

I end up clamping it and ripping it open with my teeth. I wonder if this is part of the game. I wonder if I'm being filmed. The card falls in the basket. I reach in and try to flick it over to read it. Got it, at last. And then I see frustratingly what it says.

GET IN.

I smile. Ok. I'd better do this. Hood on, and in her bloody basket. I get the picture, then she storms all smug I guess. I pretend not to check for cameras, but I can't help but give the room one last sweep as I tug into the hood. More leashed zips help me secure the neck tight. Ok. She'll be happy with this. I realise my mouth can't talk wrapped as it is round the hood's internal plug.

I feel compelled to jump in the basket. I do feel like a dilberry. But I'm Helena's pet, her gift, her animal, and these ideas engorge my human barb inside the warmth of my latex pouch. I sit back with a restricted view through the funny bamboo bars to take a minute.The front door goes SLAM! I hear keys.Clip clopping. A stop.

'Good. You're in.'In a nano-second the basket lid flaps shut, enclosing me intensely into shadow. I reach behind to stand but I hear straps and buckles and quick fingerwork over clasps.

This is not Helena, that was not her voice. What's going on? I want to call out but all I can manage is a dribbly 'raaaarrrg.... raaaarrg'.

I'm just like a cat, ready to go to the vet.

Safety SummaryI hope you enjoyed our little tale of Tom.

You will note that we had a couple of fetishes in there: rubber and pet-play.It's obvious the two partners enjoy conniving sessions for each other and there seems to be a lot of communication and preparation. Now I'm not going to come all over filth and safety officer on you – unless you pay of course – but let's check over three areas in this story that we would have hoped would be brought up in a pre-session discussion.

1. Mood: Remember Tom thinking: 'This assumption I'll be in the mood?'Sometimes our partner isn't up for kink japes and it's important to check because this is the central tenet of consent. It's not about gender cliché – whether someone will automatically be a sex or kink machine for you – it's about their character traits. In the story it appears that Helena knows 'Tom' likes her when she is in the mood, which importantly, is not the same as the stereotype of a man always being up for it and especially for a certain type of activity.

2. Breath restriction: 'Inside I would have to grip a gag keeping my mouth open'.This is obviously something Tom knows about and is comfortable with. Note, he has to get in a confined space too, but he seems okay, perhaps because it's only wicker and bamboo as opposed to a metal cage. Tom's paws are free so there is an element of DIY safety for him in case he has breathing difficulties.

3. A third party: 'This is not Helena, that was not her voice.'Obviously the introduction of a mystery woman is done for dramatic effect, both for the purposes of erotica and the framework of Tom and Helena's kink session. In this case Tom seems a bit shocked, which is probably an intended result. We'll see what happens next time with the second part of the story. However, generally, if you're having a:

you and your loving partner will have needed to include any third player with clear talk about boundaries (limits) and expectations (kinks).

I hope this helps. For more kink fun and safety, check around this website where you can find details of my book and app The Book of Kinky Sex Games which has 69 infinitely rubberizable kink games, tons of safety tips, a glossary and 13 chapters of kink lifestyle support.

I was there at Rubber Rendezvous, those many many moons ago. It was somewhere near windy, desolate Hangar Lane in North London, that I was catsuited-up with a dozen other guys and one girl. (Not in the same costume I hasten to add.) We travelled from far and wide to mooch about in a cavernous pub function hall, just happy it was happening.

That one girl in attendance metamorphised into the latex-hooded scene face that is now Synth (pictured left). I remember us both excitedly wishing there was a regular night where fetishists could just meet up and share our passion: And not just for the classic single guy perve. For when I recall that night I realised how old-school it was, being to all intense and perversities, a munch with everyone dressed up in black.

Fast forward several years later.Here I am standing in the centre of Shillibeers in another part of North London. The memory of that cold night ebbs away as the full carnival of time whirling around me into the future flash of a fetish event called Rubber Cult: Synth's latex-only night she co-runs with self-styled Queen of London Clubs, Kim Rub.

Images kindly supplied by Mick Clarke of MCPhotographyUK

For latex fetishists Rubber Cult is aSun King soirée of pure theatre.Haute couture fashions, fetish art-related designs and bespoke bizarre costumery have changed everything. What we have now is far wilder, far more colourful and exuberantly ostentatious yet surprisingly accessible.

For those looking to party you'll find it's a manageably big night. The place is rammerdammerdingdonged with friendly rubberised faces, yet there is space to chat, observe and predictably, perve. For those looking to avoid club clichés, yes, you'll always get a small mix of pretentious prannies and persistent pricks who don't even have the decency to have full-blown Asperger's. But this is forgiveable as Rubber is a magic adult sex cloth, it does weird things to us all. In any event it always makes for a brilliant story over breakfast.

And this isn't just any event. Rubber Cult is not a overly-pumping club night nor a mumbling munch, it's a stylish supermunch. Because added to the freeflow of fetish fervour buzzing loudly around the hall, there is free champagne, a fashion show, performance art featuring the beautifullly bonkers Marnie Scarlet, live drawing and best costume competitions, various pieces of quality play equipment and a vac-bed area – hosted by a delightful Cheshire Cat of Rubber Cultist in the form of Lola Latex – at one end of a vast set of open-plan stair-joined bar rooms. These expansive areas provide extra deviant digressive activity and give the whole place a sense of micro-expo, with fetish industry movers, makers and shakers wriggling, squeezing and creaking their rubberiness up and around these secretly salacious spaces.

Images kindly supplied by Mick Clarke of MCPhotographyUK

A highlight for many was the Sebastian Cauchos latex fashion parade.Fresh in from Amsterdam the talented designer exhibited a cool cross-section of his out-there Islamic and Victoriana influenced styles. Frankly it could have been longer, but then there is something to be said in leaving the audience wanting more.

Can I be so all-praisingly gushing?Well the only real off-note for me was the lack of changing privacy, and an open-plan mezzanine for people spending on costumes, tickets and coming across London is odd, as not everyone lives nearby nor can afford taxis or hotels to attend ready-dressed-up.

Okay, so you could always use the toilets (?) But perhaps this is an opportunity here to implement some extra latex touchy walls as dressing screens, especially for the ladies, as hey, there are some real perverts hanging about. They could even be emblazoned with the Rubber Cult logo and could even be used by people looking to change outfits during the night.

But further over on the plus side is Shillibeers itself, as the staff (bar and door) are fet-friendly and easy to talk to – they were all really up for it, unlike some other pee-taking venue workers. Plus all the early growing pains of the 'night' as event have settled into a more polished format – no small feat for a largely intimate event like Rubber Cult (RC): promoters Kim Rub and Synth faithfully put the effort in and their passion shows. Special mention here should go to Synth who I thought hosted the latex cabaret like a natural compère for kink craziness.

As the scene continues to grow and become ever more colourful and creative, with other similar nights springing up, I sincerely hope RC retains it's uniquely courtly supermunch, theatrical soirée qualities and continues to cater for the hardcore haute couturists, purists and fetish tourists... while including those who are simply looking to swap stories and outfit ideas, have a few drinks and celebrate our sweet lives in the swish stuff. With Synth's continuing adventures and Kim Rub's vigilience working in full tandem, it's exciting for all us dedicated enthusiasts to imagine that remarkably RC's best is still yet to come.

]]>Wed, 27 May 2015 13:54:11 GMThttp://www.jacksonrocco.com/catsuit/fetish-forum1In our previous post The Gimp Complex, we explored how our perception of hood-wearing seems ultimately connected to an image of violence, ignorance and fear. The confusion for many vanilla (non-kink) people and the thrill for many superverts seems to arise when the screamingly-striking visualisation of a leather, latex or stocking masked head makes the mind jump to a conclusion that non-consensual transgression is imminent:

Because, hey, that's what happens in films.

In reality, for most consensual kink-lovers it's simply part of their dress-up lifestyle, de rigueur clubwear andadult play. And yes, without apology, they also like the freaky dark side look of it too. But why?

Well here now to explain this, meet some more latex-liberated kinksters for whom head encasement is not just a real-life passion, but also a positive and self-affirming realm of sensual and mental freedom, as we continue to illuminate and politely request you in this blog-post to ditch the fiction and...

FLING OUT THE GIMP

Pic c/o JanFetishPix: Click to see the original at Hood-Lovers.com

Picture c/ Rachel May: Click pic for LateXtra.co.uk

Rachel May, Web Designer & LateXtra Editor, Fetishist

"The first time I ever saw a hood was when I spotted Vanessa Upton on the cover of Skin Two Magazine. It looked very cool to me, like The Face or iD magazine cool. Time passed and I only ever saw the cool people wearing hoods. The question now days is not "Why are you wearing a hood?" But: "Why aren't wearing a hood?"Because fundamentally it is cool, like being part of an elite type of cool.

"The notion of 'physically-challenged' Americans have never been part of the question, for me anyway. I'd always associated hood wearing with colourful bright outfits, I guess because of House of Harlot, Kim Rub etc...

"When I met the man that introduced me to hoods, it went darker and had a closer association to BDSM this led to a kind of conditioning process whereby I always had to be hooded. I now therefore associate wearing hoods with having a really good time. I still get a sexual rush when I put one on, even if the moment is not necessarily a sexual one. I'd say Pulp Fiction is one of my all time favourite movies, but I still don't think of the gimp when I'm around hood wearers. Hood-wearing helps me transform from just being everyday me, into something extraordinary. Dressing up is incomplete without one.

"Perhaps I do roll my eyes when I see badly fitting masks, because that does give us more serious fetishists a bad name. At the very least it leaves hood-wearing for me with less of an artistic aesthetic."

Picture c/o Soul Focus Studio: Click for Soulfocusstudio.net

SpikeyO, Fetish Journalist & Model, Fetishist

"At a recent family gathering my partner Rubberdude (after quite a few whiskies) decided it might be a good idea to share our rubber photo albums with my brother and sister-in-law. The intention I think was to try to persuade them to accompany us to a Torture Garden event. Their response was not one of admiration I can tell you, rather they retorted: "We're not going out with you if you are wearing those weird black scary gimp masks!"

"Funnily enough, they seemed okay with our white doll style masks, as they identified with those as being Geisha-like. Just not anything black, as black equated 'gimp'. I sighed inwardly, weighing up whether to bother trying to explain to the uninitiated that a black latex hood isn't necessarily, in fact hardly ever is it, worn by a 'gimp'. I just hate the word gimp.

"Even if someone identifies themselves as a gimp I could never bring myself to use the word myself in anything other than a comical way. It's maybe a term more coined by the Fifty Shades brigade of people who are investigating kink but in my opinion still haven't really got a clue. Don't say 'gimp', try saying: submissive, dom/me, switch, kinkster, fetishist or hoodlover."

Picture c/o Rankin: Click for Hood-Lovers.com

Miss Kim, Events Organiser & Promoter, Fetishist"The word gimp, for me, was a made-up used in one of Quentin Tarantino's films. It makes me think of all those non-glam types of hoods: The kind with zips for mouths and detachable gags and eye-masks.

"In the world of our dedicated website hood-lovers.com there are two types of shoots; ‘glam’ and ‘gimp’. We have sets of photos that I personally believe could only ever be described as glamorous. But then I would.

"There are others that would relate to the BDSM world. These hoods are sometimes inflatable, without eyes or with restricted airways in latex. Tightly laced leather ones too. These I would call the gimp style, for want of a better word. If fact, why don’t we Brits come up with our own term for this style of hood. Rename the gimp."

]]>Sat, 16 May 2015 13:18:54 GMThttp://www.jacksonrocco.com/catsuit/fetish-forum"Don't call it that", said the international fetish model.– Call it what? Replied deaf me, with no mid-range for nightclub chats."Don't call it a gimp mask!" Shouted the international fetish model, slightly muffled by her latex hood and competing with some kind of new aural (albeit welcome) frenetic assault by the Chemical Brothers.

I couldn't tell whether she was furious, laughing, or drunk. Probably cross. Best to be safe as she was German and I didn't want to upset diplomatic and possibly, personal relations. "I'm... was being facetious....erm... cheeky." I added to help hurdle the language barrier."What?! I know but..." She hesitated, "Uh, okay ...but every time I hear that it sends a shudder down my spine!"

This left me food for thought, for so many reasons.I wasn't trying to be face-ist. I myself love a good hood, especially Rubber 55 ones, transparent Libidex ones and ones worn by the opposite sex.

I never thought 'gimp'. It always seemed to me something in the way that the more objectified or mannikin a woman made herself, the more deliciously feminine she seemed to become: Almost as if my male imagination was attempting to assist her in escaping the restriction.

But not only does vanilla society's need to use the gimp label for comedy seem laughable, but the fetish scene's duplicitous & mixed feelings also fascinate me. BDSM thrives on the visually questionable and perverting it for a good time. I've heard gimp used a lot, in jest, fun, and public play. Perhaps, deliberately and mostly in humiliation play as a baiting insult. What exactly then are we as kinkcredible superverts asking for? Do we have some sort of self-reflecting mind-f*** going on? Don't we want respect or understanding? Or is it that we really want more perversion and enjoy blurring these facial lines? Or is that the vanillas of this life are the ones with the issue?

These were questions I couldn't answer myself, so I called upon some fetish friends to help me further work out what I have come to neatly call, because it rhymes as well...

THE GIMP COMPLEX

The dramatic use of masking in popular film and TV (here with David Carradine in Death Race 2000 (1975) is multi-faceted, creating an aura of fear, mystery, strength and for the discerning deviant, a weird sex appeal

Lady J Darkness: In Pulp Fiction the "hood-wearer is a non-consenting victim of violence."

Lady J Darkness, Writer, Dominatrix

"For the Tarantino generation, most outside of the fetish world have had little exposure to hood-wearing as a sexual practice beyond the introduction of the 'gimp' in Pulp Fiction. Here, the hood-wearer is a non-consenting victim of violence: This doesn't do much to bring people's awareness towards the positive explorations of hood-wearingbetween consenting adults in S/M practice.

"Perhaps it's time someone made a big budget movie that portrays this kind of practice in a sensitive and realistic way; by exploring the desires of those who enjoy having their identity altered through costume. It's not just those taking a sexually submissive role who like to wear hoods – it can give a further sense of empowerment to those in the dominant role."

Jan FetishClubPix, Photographer, Dominant Extreme Fetishist

"The gimp word used to really piss me off, mostly because generally less well informed unsophisticated people on the scene thought wearing hoods was automatically a badge of submission.

"Before we had gimp mask, in the UK anyway, we had another name for a close-fitting black leather hood/mask, and that was a rapist mask. That was because of the mask supposedly worn by a serial offender known as the Cambridge Rapist, in the 1970s. Subsequently it was popularised by a t-shirt designed by Vivienne Westwood and sold by Malcolm MacLaren.

"The bottom line, is that it is much safer, as a dom, top, master etc, to be associated with gimps than with rapists. I think it sort casts hooded dominants in a vaguely 'Cenobite' mould (re: Clive Barker's Hellraiser), as if we have taken a little suffering upon ourselves just to be extra badass.The truth that we think it looks and feels lovely, is just too complicated for vanillas to process."

Jan adds: "Gimp is US slang for someone who is (literally physically) lame, but the word was virtually unknown in that context in the UK or Australia; so when non-American English audiences saw that scene in the movie Pulp Fiction, they connected the word gimp with the way the submissive character was dressed, instead of actually being verbally abused by a vulgar synonym for someone who is physically challenged. Everything in that scene came out of the imagination of a Tarantino's co-writer Roger Avery, and bears no credible relation to gay BDSM practices either."

Dolly Esther in red. Picture by Peter Czernich. Click for links to more of his work.

Dolly Esther, Fetish Model, Heteroflexible Latex Fetishist

"I go through life under an incognito status with regard to this subject. I have come across quite a number of people in the past with attitudes ranging from a) amusement (sometimes ridicule)b) a slight aversionc) complete antipathy over people with anything considered sexually unorthodox.

"In a lot of cases in my formative years I usually sat quiet and hoped the conversation would take a different turn. These days I still do not make it common knowledge about my kinks down the proverbial 'boozer' if the conversation ever comes around again, but I just say something along the lines of "if people are not hurting anyone then where is the problem?".

"There was a guy I once knew who was very averse to them. He said he had come across a mail order catalogue with 'gimp masks' in, as he described. How and where he came across the catalogue was undefined, however he was so disgusted by them and attributed them to rapists, paedos and other undesirables of questionable sexual conduct. That was back in my teens... again I just sat quiet and hoped the conversation would take a different tack. I guess I am still in that incognito phase.

"Added to this the fact that I dolly up as a 'bird' and can be quite convincing to a few people, and anyone seeing my photographs would be very hard pressed to work out it was me. I think I quite enjoy that too. I guess I'll bimble along in my vanilla world as <name removed> and nillas would hopefully be none the wiser. I suppose I'm not really looking to set the world straight and stand up for 'Gimp Rights'. I just like to get me kink with it."

If you enjoyed this debate so far please leave a comment or Get in Touch with any similar outbursts of opinion. We will add them to our Fetish Forum on The Gimp Complex which, as we have had lots of feedback already, we will run for a couple more posts.

]]>Sat, 16 May 2015 12:41:49 GMThttp://www.jacksonrocco.com/catsuit/kink-media1Fetish Film Project: Get In Touch

We're happy to post about an exciting film project promoting positive kink... driven by a group of wunderkind students looking to explore our realm. Let's check out their notice first, written by one of the producers:

The vibe they are going for is quite easy to visualise. it sound very elegant. Their description is of "a James Joyce style walkthrough the city where we unravel different people and their views and perspective of Kink and BDSM in general, and hopefully we'll have a very immersive scene towards the end of the documentary in the dungeon if people are willing to play and show their kinks.

"We're hoping to speak to a wide range of people as well with vast variations of fetishes that are important to them. Aesthetically we're going for something very visually strong and stimulating – in the vein of the Nick Cave bio 20000 Days On Earth – and we want a very sensory and moving experience for the audience, something that at the end makes them go "wow!", something that excites them and hopefully makes them question what they desire and their previous conceptions about the BDSM and kink world."

For contact details please PM me.(jackson.rocco@facebook.com) or try our Get In Touch page or speak to Skye at The Dungeon Bar @DungeonBar12a if you'd like to be interviewed or perhaps demo play. Pref. couples. Thank you. x